At All Costs
by Demonforged
Summary: The gundam pilots have sworn to protect the colonies at all costs. But how much will this truly cost the pilots-and how far is too far?
1. To Weigh Options

Hi, don't kill me? I know that I haven't updated recently on my other stories, but please forgive! I caught a horrible flu, writer's block, and a momentary super-intense obsession with Gundam Wing. Maybe I'll update on them a month from now or something when I find more inspiration for them…just let me finish my obsession with GW first. And by the way, Gundam Wing doesn't belong to me and I do not profit from this story. Did I mention the fact that I loathe writing disclaimers? It is fanfiction. net, not fiction. net. Notice the fan in front of fiction.

Duo grimaced and leaned back against the chair, feet casually propped up on the table. He glared moodily out the window, lost in his thoughts. How was it that the damn colonies were being so difficult and dense? Didn't they realize that the Gundams were their only allies, and that OZ was feeding them a bunch of lies?

Creak.

Instantly, Duo stood up warily, his body in a defensive position as his hand automatically hovered near the gun in his waistband. Had OZ discovered him? Nobody was suppose to know he was here. Immediately, his thoughts went to his gundam hidden under a nearby junkyard. Both he and Deathscythe could not be captured at all costs, not at this critical moment when the Gundams were the only things standing against OZ conquering the space colonies. If the situation turned out too desperate, he could always…

The 02 pilot gave a grim smile. He must be rubbing off of Heero. It wasn't like him to immediately think of self-detonation as an option. Oh well.

He silently opened the door and scanned the hallway. It was empty. Hardly reassured by that fact, he risked a glance up and found the ventilation shafts untouched. However, there was a slight prickling at the back of his neck, a feeling that he, as one of the infamous gundam pilots, was well acquainted with. Danger.

The safety came off of his gun with a muted click, muffled by his cloth. He continued down the hall, tense and alert, his violet eyes narrowed. The hall ended to form a T shape, and Duo took a deep breath and cautiously peered around the corner.

Abruptly, he caught a flicker of movement to his right and threw himself to the ground just as a burst of earsplitting machine gun fire erupted over his head, a tongue of flame pinpointing the location of the shooter. The 02 pilot grit his teeth and fired off two shots in quick succession. There was a cry of pain and a satisfying thud as a body slumped to the floor, the machine gun clattering lifelessly besides the body.

His blood pounding, Duo whirled around and sought to find more enemies. Nope. This guy seemed to have come alone. Stupid bastard.

Duo quickly searched the corpse. A wallet, which he flipped open to reveal a few credits and standard OZ military ID…Nothing of any real use. Duo bit as his lip, a thought nagging away at him. If OZ had really pinpointed his location, they wouldn't have sent in a single soldier to eliminate a gundam pilot. Nay, OZ might not be overly bright, but they sure weren't stupid. It was one of the first rule ever listed in a OZ military how-to handbook to always have a buddy to watch out for your back. But if this guy was really alone, and perhaps a simple off-duty OZ soldier taking a tour around the city, then why would he start to randomly shoot at anyone he saw with a fricking machine gun?

The gundam pilot frowned darkly at the thought, but he dragged the corpse and machine gun out of sight and found a heavy crimson rug to place over the bloodstained carpet. Once done, he fished out the hotel keys and proceeded down to check out. There was no sense in staying here any longer.

The gundam pilot froze at the base of the stairs, hidden by a decorous fake tropical plant. Two armed and obviously drunk OZ soldiers were standing in front of the checkout desk, making unwanted advances upon the young, frightened desk clerk.

Their voices floated over to him.

"…sure pretty."

"Please sirs, do you require a room?"

A snicker and leers.

"Yeah, with you in it…"

"I'm sorry, hotel policy says no loitering-Hey!"

A soldier had started pawing at her. "Who do you think you are to refuse us?" He said in a drunken slur as his hands kept her from escaping. "You colony scum should be glad we even bother protecting you."

Duo took a deep breath. His instincts screamed at him to save the girl, but the coolly analytical part of his mind told him that he would risk trouble confronting the two soldiers. Besides, the detached part of his mind whispered, it would be the perfect opportunity to slip past unnoticed while they were…busy.

With an unreadable look on his face, the 02 pilot walked into plain view, his body seemingly relaxed. Five steps. Four. Three. Two. One.

Duo walked out the hotel door. He turned the corner and found his way to the junkyard. Several minutes later, he was strapped in Deathscythe's cockpit.

The pilot stared at the controls with blank violet eyes, seeing, yet not seeing them. His lips moved as he hoarsely recited familiar words.

"I…" His voice slightly cracked. "must protect the colonies. At all costs."

…

Moments later, the hotel security dumped two unconscious OZ soldiers outside the door.

"You okay miss?" The security chief gently as he cradled the sobbing girl to his chest.

"Y-yes. You got here in the nick of time." She said, sniffling. "I thought you were off duty today."

"Yeah, but lucky for you, we were nearby when the silent alarm went off. How did you manage to do it?"

Startled, the girl's tears momentarily stopped.

"But I didn't do it."

…

"All systems clear, Colonel." The OZ tech said checking off the final procedures.

"Good. Advance the Alpha team to point R20-APH."

"Advancing Alpha team to point R20-APH." The tech repeated, for the sake of military procedure. Tiny red blips on the radar screen started beeping. "Hostilities spotted." He pulled up a window and glanced at the data. "Around twenty modified Leos. Standard exterior Zero G space adapters. Listed as missing from several Earth OZ bases."

His commanding officer grunted. It was no surprise to him that they were missing OZ suits. The Trieze Faction and the former Alliance had raided many bases in vicious, but dwindling, guerilla attacks and often escaped with several mobile suits in toll. He snorted. Let them take as many suits as they wanted, it wouldn't help them against the mass produced and nearly undefeatable mobile dolls.

"Sir? Shall we engage?"

"Eliminate them." The colonel said, bored. Usually the battles would end quickly, and all hostilities would disappear under five minutes without losing a single mobile doll.

"Yes, sir!" The tech said smartly in reply and his fingers rapidly danced over the keyboard, relaying enemy identification to the mobile doll unit Alpha. The blue dots on the radar screen blinked and accelerated, quickly forming an undefeatable shield formation as yellow outlines appeared around the red dots, indicating that the hostilities were firing at the dolls.

A yellow outline appeared around the blue dots in response, and the colonel quickly looked at his watch in anticipation of the first explosion. Not bad, 5 seconds into battle.

No, wait. Suddenly, in the place of one of his blue dots, a black dot appeared. Even as the stunned OZ colonel watched, a ring of yellow blossomed around it and another two blue dots abruptly disappeared from the screen.

"What on earth is going on?" The colonel roared, alarmed as yet another blue dot vanished under the onslaught of the powerful, unidentified mobile suit. Another minute and there would be nothing left of the mobile doll team Alpha.

The tech was frantically typing onto the keyboard.

"Connecting to the manual visual," He forced out as he blindly scanned the area around a mobile doll, wincing at the fiery explosions as the unknown enemy destroyed the dolls with deadly precision. A black figure emerged from the flames, a thermal scythe held expertly in unfeeling hands as a emerald gleam flashed across the unyielding metal face.

"It's a gundam!" The tech cried out as Deathscythe easily avoided the mobile doll's fire and raised the deadly thermal weapon over the black head. A brilliant green light erupted and the screen flickered and died.

Face pale, the colonel rasped in the following shocked silence, "Send out a warning on the OZ military channel about a gundam loose in the R20 area. Deploy our Beta mobile doll squadron immediately. We must capture that gundam!"


	2. Eliminate all Obstacles

Deathscythe floated in front of the scene of the wrecked fragments of broken mobile dolls as the rebel suits warily, but respectably, faced the gundam that saved them from being blasted to smithereens.

Duo pushed the button for voice communication, not to keen to reveal the face of a gundam terrorist even to potential allies. His voice deepened slightly, and he tried to speak as monotonously as possible to prevent voice identification.

"This is gundam pilot 02. Identify yourselves." Not bad, Duo thought, although there could be much more original ways of greeting people.

There was a short burst of static before an almost snakelike voice hissed in reply.

"I'm very pleased to meet such a skilled gundam pilot like yourself. Allow me to introduce myself. I am the leader of White Fang, a rebel group for the colonies against the oppressive presence of Earth. We fight for the freedom and welfare of the colonies, just like the Gundams." A pause, as if the voice was waiting for his words to sink in, evidently expecting a reaction.

When silence was the only answer received, the leader cleared his throat, then continued in a grim tone. "You were betrayed by the colonies. I understand that you must be rather shocked and disappointed. But the words you heard are the feeling of only a small part of the population, the manipulated powerful politicians. All in all, it is you gundam pilots and Gundams that represent the righteous justice that the oppressed colonies must exact from Earth." The voice finished passionately.

"You ask me to join you."

"I plead to your belief that you are one of the five champions of the colonies, to defend them."

"…No."

The White Fang leader's voice tensed, and he said harshly, "Why? Just when the colonies need your support the most, you will turn your head and watch them suffer under Earth's oppression? You traitor!"

"You are my enemy." Duo said, his voice as cold as ice. His expressive violet eyes darkened as he looked at the White Fang Leos hovering defensively before him. Duo resisted the urge to roll his eyes as some suits tried to subtly move to surround him. Idiots. They were piloting suits inferior to the advanced quick-reacting mobile dolls that Deathscythe had so effortlessly destroyed in under five minutes, and they thought that they could disarm him?

"You has erred and mistaken my role. I am no weapon for you to use in your foolish ideals. The Earth and Space Colonies are connected. My role is to create true peace and understanding between the two. In that manner, I eliminate anything that gets in my way."


End file.
